Town won't go cold turkey even as wild birds terrorise residents

Lisa W. Foderaro

In some neighbourhoods of Hillsdale, a placid borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, they are seemingly everywhere - waddling by the dozen in the road, perched on car roofs, pecking at the tyres of delivery trucks.

But wild turkeys, which were wiped out in the state by the mid-1800s, put on their most brazen display on Tuesday, when a letter carrier felt trapped in his truck and telephoned his boss for help.

A wild turkey perched on the hood of a Honda Accord in Hillsdale, New Jersey, last autumn. Photo: Marisa Cefali, New York Times

"Hey, Sarge," the postmaster said in a 911 call to the Hillsdale Police Department. "You're not going to believe this, but I got a carrier that's being attacked by wild turkeys and won't let him deliver the mail."

When two officers arrived, the letter carrier, who was not identified, was inside his truck on Esplanade Drive, surrounded by four or five turkeys, Captain Sean Smith of the Police Department said.

"The first officer attempted to blow the siren and that didn't work," he said on Thursday.

"Then the other officer got out of his car and ran aggressively toward the turkeys and that did the trick."

In Hillsdale, residents such as Marisa Cefali, 57, say turkeys, as well as deer, coyotes and turtles, are part of the suburban menagerie that make their surroundings feel pleasantly pastoral.

Mrs Cefali lives on Manson Place, around the corner from where the letter carrier was trapped.

"They're actually gobbling in the morning and that's what we wake up to," she said, motioning to the woods behind her split-level home, where she has seen as many as 20 turkeys in a single group.

However, last autumn she put an end to her husband's habit of leaving birdseed on the edge of their property for the turkeys.

She had walked out to the driveway only to discover a turkey perched on top of their Honda Accord.

"The darn thing wouldn't get off," she recalled. "I went upstairs and said, 'That's it: No more feeding the turkeys.' "

The mayor of Hillsdale, Doug Frank, dismissed the notion that the borough, which has 10,200 people, might have a turkey problem.

"The population is not too large," he said in a phone interview.

"We've seen them around. I've never felt threatened. They're big birds and I can understand why people wouldn't want to go near them."

It was just one of the latest skirmishes in suburbia's wildlife wars.

Turkeys have now joined the ranks of raccoons, foxes, coyotes, bears and deer, all of which have both fans and detractors and seem to make headlines with growing frequency.

While New Jersey environmental officials say they are unaware of anyone being physically harmed by a turkey, the large birds are intimidating.

The state's Department of Environmental Protection, which reintroduced turkeys to the state in the 1970s, says that there are now about 25,000 statewide.

"It's a success story," said Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the environmental agency.

There are two hunting seasons, and while officials respond to 20 to 30 turkey complaints a year, the biggest problems seem to involve traffic tie-ups.

"They will go out in the roads and if they get on to a major highway, they can be a traffic and safety hazard," Mr Hajna said.

But some local officials and residents say face-to-face turkey encounters are increasing and can be scary.

Perhaps the most alarming scene to be caught on video occurred in Cherry Hill, in Camden County, in 2009, when a mother and her young son were accosted by a few turkeys.

In the video, the mother places the boy's tricycle between him and the turkeys, and they then run off. As a driver comes around the corner, honking the horn to frighten the birds, the mother's screams can be heard in the background.

Later, the mother is seen running to safety with the boy in her arms.

In nearby Burlington County, the township of Hainesport passed a local ordinance in 2012 that banned the feeding of turkeys after some cyclists and joggers reported being stalked.

And on Staten Island, the one New York City borough where turkeys have become a nuisance, residents say they chase children, eat shrubs and vegetables and snatch food from people's hands.

In New York State, where wild turkeys were also exterminated in the 1800s, officials started to restore the population in the 1950s. Today, turkeys are well established throughout the state, with population estimates ranging from 250,000 to 300,000.

Among the tight circle of area mail carriers, news of the encounter on Tuesday spread quickly.

Angus Hunt, a postal worker in neighbouring Woodcliff Lake for 30 years, said he had heard that the stricken letter carrier was a floater, meaning a postal worker from outside the area.

Mr Hunt's strategy is to be the alpha male, wading right through flocks of turkeys with a confident air.

"They travel in packs and will come after the truck," he said.

"They peck at the wheels sometimes. I don't antagonise them. I just get out of the truck and walk through."

Mr Hajna said that, in late winter, some turkeys seemed to suffer from a premature form of spring fever, what he called "crazy jake" behaviour.

"When the day lengthens, hormones start to flow," he explained.

"Teenage males, or jakes, that are habituated to people get a bit aggressive."